Aioli
by AudiophileChica
Summary: Kensi is hurt during a take-down and Deeks surprises her while taking care of her.


Just a decent-length one-shot about our favorite almost-couple, DENSI! Hope you enjoy and reviews are very, very appreciated!

Of course, none of this belongs to me... darn it... LoL!

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In theory, the plan had been flawless.

The bullets whizzing past them strongly suggested otherwise.

Late intel had revealed that there were hidden levels and passages under the warehouse, making the possibility of there being quite a few more armed targets very likely. Unfortunately, by that time, it was too late to arrange additional tactical support. The only thing they had been able to do was load up with more weapons and ammo for themselves.

The four of them were on their own.

Sam and Callen entered through the main entrance, quickly taking out the three armed guards before advancing past the entryway.

Kensi and Deeks were positioned at a side door towards the middle of the building and entered at the same time as their teammates. The two guards were easy enough to disable, allowing them to quickly barricade the door and position themselves among stacks of wooden crates in the middle of the floor.

The team knew the layout of the original empty warehouse, but the crates and equipment packed inside made it a little more difficult. Not to mention the fact that there were now, apparently, underground tunnels and spaces, the entrances to which could be anywhere.

They also knew their main target was in the loft office at the back of the building thanks to Eric and Nell. What they did not know, however, was just exactly how many more of Sanchez's men were on the premises and how heavily they were armed. The answer to both was simple… a lot.

Deeks knew he was in the best position to get to their main target, but he couldn't get there on his own. Sam and Callen were busy taking care of the additional shooters that had entered through the front behind them. Kensi was the only backup he had at the moment, and in all honesty, he was perfectly fine with that.

Deeks locked eyes with his partner, signaling that he was moving towards their target and he needed her to cover him. She stood up just enough to get a glimpse of the area Deeks would be advancing through. Seeing no immediate visible threat, she crouched back down between the crates and gave him the nod to proceed.

Glancing behind him to make sure his back was still covered by the rest of the team, Deeks checked his weapon, nodded to Kensi, and sprinted through the crates and boxes towards the metal staircase leading up to the loft office. The windows that faced out into the warehouse were all covered, so Deeks himself could not see the positions of anyone in the room with their target. Thank God for Eric and Nell.

"Nell, tell me you've got eyes in the office, 'cause I'm on my way there quick! I'm at the base of the stairs."

Nell's voice in his ear mingled with the outside sounds of running, yelling, and bullets. "Eyes in the office are good, Deeks. There are two guards with Sanchez, both armed with handguns only, from what I can tell. Sanchez himself doesn't seem to be armed, but I can't be positive."

The detective peered up the stairs from his slightly covered position. "Anything on the door I need to worry about? Besides the men with guns, of course."

"Negative. On that front, you are clear."

Knowing it was basically now or never, Deeks took a couple of quick breaths, glanced around his immediate vicinity, then quickly began making his way up the stairs two at a time. He leaned against the corner of the railing where he would be behind the door if it opened before he was ready.

"Nell, I'm at the door. Eyes?" Deeks spoke quietly, hoping his voice wouldn't carry through the door.

Nell responded quickly. "One guard is staying near a window facing out into the warehouse. Apparently, it's the only one they can see out of, but they wouldn't be able to see the stairs, so you should be good there as long as he didn't see you leave your position with Kensi. Sanchez and the other guard are both working to get one of the outside windows open. All three backs are to the door if you move now!"

Deeks turned the handle on the door and pulled just enough to release the latch. Holding the bottom of the door with his foot, he reached down and grabbed the backup gun from its ankle holster with his left hand.

"Nell?" Deeks whispered as quietly as he could.

Nell's response was immediate. "Backs are still to the door. Guard at the inside window has gun in hand. Guard with Sanchez has his in his waistband."

Moving slowly, Deeks eased the door open with his foot, praying it wouldn't squeak. For once, everything seemed to go his way as the door stayed silent and none of the three men were made aware of his presence. He held the door open with his body, but never fully stepped into the room. He wanted to keep the stairway in his peripheral vision to avoid any unwelcome surprises if possible. He quickly raised both weapons and aimed at the two armed guards in front of him. He steadied the guns and kept his focus moving between the men continuously.

Voting against yelling and startling the men into doing something involuntary, Deeks calmly, but firmly announced his arrival. "LAPD. Drop your weapons, put your hands in the air, and turn around slowly."

The guard near the inside window must have been new, not very good at his job, or both. He dropped his gun to the ground and turned so fast he stumbled back into the window. The other guard was much calmer, but still apparently valued his own life more than his loyalty to his boss. He had both hands raised and turned his head just enough to address Deeks as he spoke.

"Okay, I'm going to remove my gun slowly with two fingers and drop it."

Deeks thought the guy had probably seen too many cop shows, but who was he to argue with a cooperative suspect? Still, it wasn't the time to relax just yet.

"Slowly."

Sanchez, however, apparently had different priorities, his own life not being one of them. Before the guard could finish reaching for his gun, Sanchez grabbed it and swung it around towards Deeks, firing once.

Acting on instinct, Deeks fired at almost exactly the same time. Luckily, his aim was much better. He felt the bullet fly past his head through the open door. Had Sanchez not spun the gun quite so far around, it would have been a perfect headshot. Deek's aim was much truer, even left-handed.

Sanchez dropped the gun and immediately grasped his bleeding shoulder, falling to his knees.

Deeks heard the various "clear" statuses through his earwig and breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Clear upstairs, but I could use some extra hands up here."

Callen entered a few seconds later, securing the dropped weapons in his waistband first, allowing Deeks to finally lower his arms.

Holstering both weapons and pulling his cuffs from his back pocket, Deeks headed to the guard near Sanchez while Callen cuffed the man still shaking by the inside window. The detective wasn't really worried about Sanchez going anywhere with a bullet in his shoulder, but he of course kept an eye on him anyway.

Even through the pain, the injured man couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Well, cop, looks like you screwed up. I was your target and I'm still alive. You'll catch hell for missing that shot. You should've killed me." His grin was pained, but somehow still cocky.

Deeks met Callen's somewhat amused look, then aimed his stare at Sanchez. All the normal Marty Deeks light humor was gone as he replied coldly. "Too easy. Trust me, my shot didn't miss. I wouldn't want to deprive you of experiencing prison life. You know, it's not like the nice little resort prisons you hear about from celebrities. And believe me, when the other inmates hear about some of the more down-low aspects of your business, you'll pray for solitary. Even the most hardened, bad-ass criminals don't take kindly to people who sell pre-teen girls into sex slavery."

Back-up had finally arrived, albeit a little late for the action, and agents began filtering into the loft office to take the men off their hands.

As Sanchez was led out of the room, definitely less cocky now, Deeks called out to him. "Let me know how shower day goes."

The look Sanchez gave him as he was led out of the room would have given most people nightmares, but Deeks simply grinned and waved like he didn't have a care in the world.

Callen stared at Deeks for a moment before chuckling quietly. "Come on, let's go check in downstairs.

Sam met them at the bottom of the stairs and answered their unspoken question. "Kensi is helping them with her last guy. Apparently he was a bit of a problem. Saw Sanchez headed out of here with a fair amount of blood on him. Your handy work, Deeks?" Sam's grin was teasingly approving.

Deeks nodded once, keeping his eyes peeled for his partner to return. "Yeah, guards decided to be cooperative, he decided to be a dumbass."

Callen clapped a hand on Deeks's shoulder. "Well, I'm proud of how everything went down today, especially without the tactical support we originally planned on. Why don't you go find your partner while we make sure everything's wrapped up here on our end?"

"No need to find her, she found us." Deeks spied his partner approaching from over Callen's shoulder. At first glance, she appeared to be fine and in one piece. However, most people couldn't and didn't see Kensi quite the way Deeks did. To him, it was obvious that something was off.

Kensi attempted a smile as she neared the group, but it seemed strained. "Hey, guys, I'm all done if you are."

Sam and Callen returned her smile easily and turned to leave the building. Deeks didn't budge, however. His gaze was instead, fixed on the drops of blood landing directly beneath Kensi's left arm. "Kens, you're bleeding."

At those words, the other team members never stopped walking, just turned in mid-stride and returned to her side.

Kensi rolled her eyes. She knew this was going to happen. "Guys, I'm fine. I'm sure it's just a graze. I'll patch it up back at OPS." She turned to leave, hoping they would leave it alone and just follow her out quietly. She should have known better, especially with Deeks as a partner.

When he had seen the blood, Deeks had immediately searched up the length of her arm with his gaze. He had spotted the tear in the upper part of her jacket sleeve, but it wasn't until she turned to leave that he saw the matching tear on the back of her arm. "Kens, I hate to break it to you, but graze's don't tend to bleed that much. They also don't usually leave two distinctive holes in your jacket."

Sam stepped forward to take a closer look at her arm. "Deeks is right, looks like it went all the way through. "

Callen finally spoke up. "Why didn't you say something, Kensi?"

Kensi shrugged. "Honestly, I just thought it was a graze. A bad graze, maybe, but still just a graze. Although now that I'm actually paying attention to it, it hurts like a son-of-a-bitch."

Hearing his partner admit to being in pain seemed to wake Deeks up a bit. "Okay, let's go. I'm sure there are still some paramedics around here that can take a look at it." He put his hand lightly on the middle of her back to steer her towards the exit.

"I'm not going to the hospital, Deeks."

"Princess, if they tell you that you need to go to the hospital, then that's where you're going, whether they take you or I do, it doesn't matter."

Kensi tried to give him a death glare as he lead her towards the last waiting ambulance, but it lacked some of its usual potency. Her arm was really throbbing now, so it was taking valuable focus away from threatening her partner into doing what she wanted.

Deeks never left his partner's side as the EMT removed her now ruined jacket. She tried to mask the pain on her face, but even she knew she was pretty much failing miserably. The paramedic inspected and cleaned the wounds gently and thoroughly, then paused and studied Kensi's face for a moment.

"You're going to fight going to the hospital, aren't you?"

Deeks answered for her. "You have no idea, but she's already agreed to do whatever is needed." He looked pointedly at his partner, as if daring her to argue.

Kensi tried to give the EMT her best puppy dog face while ignoring Deeks. Apparently, the paramedic wasn't as immune as Deeks had hoped he would be.

"I can stitch you up here, but you'll need to see a doctor in ten to fourteen days to check it and make sure the stitches are ready to come out. Now, if you want anything stronger than over-the-counter for the pain, you're out of luck with me."

Kensi grinned like she had just won the lottery. "Trust me, I'm good with that!"

The EMT gathered all the necessary supplies and began patching her up, being as gentle as possible with the stitching. Once he was finished, he started to give her some Tylenol, but she shook her head.

"No, I'm good for now, thanks."

The man looked at her questioningly, not sure about her answer.

Deeks finally spoke up. "Don't worry, I've got that covered. Thanks, man." He took Kensi's damaged jacket off the gurney she was sitting on and stood close enough to her to help if she had any trouble getting down out of the ambulance.

Kensi could have used the help with the amount of pain she was actually in, but being Kensi, of course she wouldn't ask for it unless she was dying. Although Deeks knew it would be a stretch even then.

Deeks led his partner to the passenger side of her Cadillac, knowing she wouldn't be able to drive with her injured arm. The fact that she didn't even attempt to argue spoke volumes. He took his time walking around to the driver side so he could send a quick text to Callen telling him he was taking Kensi home and that they would get their reports in tomorrow.

The drive was calm and quiet until Kensi finally spoke up, noticing something wasn't quite right.

"Deeks, where are you going? This isn't the direction of my place."

"I know, I'm taking you to my place."

Kensi sighed tiredly. "Deeks, come on, just take me home. I'm fine. I just want to go home and go to bed."

Deeks continued driving towards his apartment, never once considering changing course. "Kens, I know you're tired, but I also know that you haven't hardly eaten anything today. We're going to my place and I'm feeding you. Plus, since you wouldn't go to the hospital to see an actual doctor about your arm, I know how much pain you're in. I happen to still have some pain killers left over that I'll set you up with."

Kensi stared at her partner's profile for a bit before responding. "We've finally found an argument I'm not going to win, haven't we?"

The detective smiled gently. "The fact that you came to that conclusion without really even trying to argue makes it all the more true."

"Fine, but you're taking me home after we eat."

"Sure thing, Princess." _Yeah, right…_

When they arrived at Deeks's apartment, Monty was not-so-patiently waiting to go outside. Deeks grabbed the leash and led him out while Kensi headed for the bathroom to inspect the damage to her arm. She had just finished slowly and painfully removing the bandages covering the angry red wounds when Deeks knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Deeks entered with a handful of supplies. "Sit down on the side of the tub."

Kensi did as she was told but asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to wrap your arm so you can take a shower while I work on dinner."

Working silently, Deeks wrapped plastic wrap around Kensi's upper arm a couple of times, then secured the end, top, and bottom with waterproof plastic tape. He stood up and left the room, only to return a moment later with fresh clothes for her. She immediately recognized the tank top and yoga pants she had started leaving at his place for when their movie nights became too-tired-to-drive or fell-asleep-on-the-couch sleepovers. He set the clothes on the counter, pulled a towel and washrag out of the cabinet and hung them on the towel rack.

"If you need anything, just holler," he said, leaving her sitting on the side of the tub slightly shocked.

They had been partners for a while now, and she still wasn't used to seeing all of these different sides to him. He was constantly surprising her and she was having trouble deciding if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

As much as she hated to admit it, Deeks apparently had known best because the shower worked wonders. Washing her hair with a hole in her arm was a little tricky, though. She towel-dried her hair as best she could and dressed in the fresh clothes that she now realized he must have washed for her after their last movie night. She smiled, remembering the time she'd made him wash her clothes for a month. Somehow, this felt much more intimate.

Kensi hung her towel back on the rack and stepped out of the bathroom. She immediately noticed the enticing aroma coming from the kitchen. Following her nose, she headed in that direction expecting to find take out containers on the counter. To say she was surprised at what she saw was definitely an understatement. Shocked was more like it.

Deeks stood in front of the stove with a dish towel draped over his shoulder. As Kensi stepped into the kitchen, the movement drew his attention. He gestured over his shoulder to the pills and water sitting next to the sink.

"Take those, no argument. Trust me, you'll be glad you did." He added when he saw her raise her eyebrow.

She was in just enough pain to swallow the pills without comment, but she was more interested in what he was focusing on so intently at the stove. She turned and peered over his shoulder.

"What's cookin'?"

"I assume the 'good lookin'' portion is implied, right?" He grinned sideways at her.

"Possibly. The towel over the shoulder does add a certain charm."

"Compliment accepted." He gestured to the skillets in front of them. "These are homemade crab cakes, aioli sauce is in the fridge, and this is fresh asparagus sautéed with garlic, minced onion, and olive oil. Should be ready in about five minutes. Would you rather eat at the table or on the couch?"

Kensi just stared at him, both eyebrows raised in surprise. She was pretty much speechless. He seemed to be having that effect on her quite a bit today.

"Kens? You okay?"

That seemed to shake her out of her stupor. "Yeah, I'm just surprised is all. You didn't have to go through all this trouble for me. I would have been fine with pizza or Chinese or something."

Deeks shook his head as he turned off the flames under both skillets. "Believe me, it's no trouble. This meal is actually very easy to make. I was planning on making it anyway, so I already had everything. Besides, as you may or may not have noticed, I've made it my mission to get some decent food into you. It's easiest when you're too tired or worn out to fight back." He winked at her as he placed the food on the plates he had sitting on the counter and spooned some of the now heated aioli sauce over the crab cakes.

Kensi scoffed quietly. "I eat decent food."

"I'm not completely convinced that half of what you eat is even actual food, much less decent food. Now where would you be more comfortable eating, Fern, table or couch?"

"First of all, don't call me Fern or you'll end up with a hole in your arm to match mine. Second, I would be more comfortable on the couch, but with my arm jacked up, I don't think I'll be able to hold the plate with one hand and eat with the other. Table would probably be easier."

Deeks took both plates, smiled, and headed off to the living room. "Ye of little faith, Princess."

Kensi followed him, curious as to what he was up to. He set the plates down on the coffee table and then grabbed the throw blanket folded over the back of the couch. He bunched the small blanket up and set it on the arm of the couch. After some digging and arranging, the blanket seemed to have a crater in the middle that proved to be just the right size for her plate.

Deeks made sure Kensi was situated comfortably before claiming the other end of the couch for himself. He silently stared at her out of the corner of his eye as she took the first bite of the crab cakes.

Kensi was silent as she chewed. Deeks actually started to worry a little since she just continued to stare down at her plate for a while.

"Kens? Is everything okay? Do you not like it? Would you rather have something else?"

She finally turned to look at him and her expression was almost unreadable. "Deeks… I'm totally and completely amazed. This is incredible. I had no idea you could actually cook. Where in the world did you learn how to do this?"

"My first extended deep-cover with LAPD had a lot of dull aspects. I ended up having quite a bit of free time. I was on the internet one day and came across a couple of recipes that sounded really good. I just started following links from there and wound up spending all day collecting all these dishes I wanted to try. Turns out I was actually pretty good at following a recipe without major disaster. The more I tried, the more adventurous I became with tweaking them and creating my own variations."

Staring at him as he explained, Kensi was surprised to see that he had actually started blushing slightly. Normally it was something she would tease him mercilessly about, but for some reason she found it endearing now.

However, if she didn't tease him just a little, she wouldn't be Kensi. "Oh, I figured you just learned so you could impress women," she said with a playful wink.

Once again, Deeks did the unexpected. He actually seemed a little embarrassed. "Actually, I've never really cooked for a girl. We've always just gone out or gotten take-out." The volume of his voice dropped a little more. "The few times I have, it's mostly been breakfast." He studied his plate for a moment before taking a bite of asparagus.

Kensi took another small bite of the crab cake and aioli sauce. When she spoke again, she was barely able to keep her voice steady. "Why did you cook for me, Deeks?"

He finally smiled a little and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Because our thing is different."

Things may have been shifting between them or it could have been the pain meds kicking in, but she stretched her left leg out on the couch until her toes rested up against his outer thigh. She returned his sideways gaze and smiled gently. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Deeks turned on the TV and found a movie they could both stand while they finished their meal. By the time the movie was over, Kensi was asleep leaning on the arm of the couch. Knowing she would kill him if she woke up, Deeks stood and lifted her into his arms. He carried her to his bedroom and laid her down gently on his side of the bed. He covered her with the sheet and comforter and headed out of the room.

Deeks knew Kensi well, so he knew she never went anywhere without her phone. It was in the bathroom with her clothes so he brought it into the bedroom and placed it on the nightstand next to her. He folded her clothes and laid them on top of the dresser. Returning to the living room, he grabbed their dishes off the coffee table and took them into the kitchen. Once the dishes were done, he took Monty out one last time, then turned out the lights and headed to the couch to settle in for the night.

He had finally gotten into at least a semi-comfortable position and was just starting to drift off when his phone chirped, alerting him to a text message. He grabbed it from the coffee table and opened the message.

It was from Kensi. _Stop trying to get comfortable on the couch and come to bed._

Deeks smiled to himself. Things were definitely changing between them, but he was smart enough to not push his luck. He got off the couch and walked silently into the bedroom.

Kensi was still facing the nightstand, but her eyes were closed. He walked to the opposite side of the bed, stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers and gently climbed under the covers. Once he got situated, he stared up at the dark ceiling for a moment before closing his eyes. Once again, he was just starting to drift off when he felt the bed move slightly. He smiled lightly in his near-sleep and cracked his eyes open when he felt Kensi turn over and scoot to the middle of the bed. His smile widened when he felt her head hit his shoulder and her arm rest against his chest.

"I like our thing," she whispered against his shirt.

He closed his eyes again and snuggled down into the pillow a little more. "So do I, Princess."

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And there you have it! As I said earlier, reviews are always, always appreciated! I'll have more one-shots posted as I'm able to get them fleshed out and typed up!


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